Fairbanks AK

As we approach the northernmost point in our journey, we are also approaching the summer solstice. The days are becoming incredibly long and nighttime seems nonexistent.

After leaving Tok we continued north and west and came to Delta Junction. Delta Junction is technically the northern terminus of the Alaska Highway. We visited the Sullivan Roadhouse, an historical roadhouse that operated before highways. These roadhouses were usually located about fifteen miles apart, generally a day's travel, along the historical trails, and served trappers, traders and gold stampeders and provided meals and lodging. Later we visited Rika's Roadhouse, which is now an Alaskan state historical park. Rika's is a more modern roadhouse and operated after travelers began passing in automobiles. John Hajdukovich established a trading post at this site on the Tanana River in 1913. In 1917 Hajdukovich hired a Swedish immigrant named Rika Wallen to operate the roadhouse which prospered under her management. In 1923 she bought it from Hajdukovich for "$10.00 and other considerations". Today it is preserved to illustrate life during the roadhouse era.

We continued and arrived at Fairbanks late in the evening. After buying fuel and groceries at Sam's Club, we parked (with permission) in the back lot there. Later we learned that Walmart was really the happening place, with over 50 RVs parked there every night. The next morning we moved to Tanana Valley Campground for three nights. I think this campground is part of the state fair facilities. While in Fairbanks we learned of the Alaska TourSaver coupon book. We bought the book for $100 and it contains coupons for 2 for 1 deals all over Alaska. We broke even on the book before leaving Fairbanks and will save hundreds on tours and cruises as we travel south to Denali, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. If you go to Alaska check it out!



We did all the touristy things in Fairbanks. First we visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North (2 for 1 coupon!) This museum was a highlight of my visit to Alaska 18 years ago. Since then they have built a modern building to house the exhibits. The museum contains exhibits on the cultural and natural history of Alaska as well as a collection of fine arts. We also visited Pioneer Park, a Fairbanks city park located on the Chena River. Pioneer Park has an aviation museum, a narrow gauge train, playgrounds and many historical buildings and cabins relocated from other parts of downtown Fairbanks. Many of these buildings were saved from demolition and now house shops and restaurants.




Dorcas wanted to visit the El Dorado Gold Mine. I wasn't thrilled about it, but we had a coupon, and Dorcas twisted my arm. I was very pleasantly surprised. The attraction featured a train ride through a recreated mining camp, a mine tunnel and a permafrost tunnel. The ride was hosted by our singing conductor and miner/actors demonstrating different mining techniques along the way. The train ended at a real mining operation where we watched some folks really mine for gold. They dumped a load of "pay dirt" that had been extracted nearby into a hopper with water flowing beneath it. The water and dirt raced down a long sluice, perhaps 100 feet long, that had angle irons on the bottom perpendicular to the flow. These irons increased turbulence in the water and caused the gold particles to fall out. Then they scooped up some dirt from the upper end of the sluice and began panning. And they had GOLD!!! It was cool. Finally they gave everyone in our group a small poke with some pay dirt, so we could pan for gold ourselves. Everyone was guaranteed to find gold. And we found GOLD!!! When we were finished, they weighed our gold and told us its worth at the current market value. It turns out that Dorcas and I together had 7.9 grains of 21 karat gold, with a market value of $39. Not bad for $35 admission and all the free homemade cookies and hot chocolate we could eat. We would have come out ahead if Dorcas hadn't paid $20 for a locket to put her (our) booty into. Much of this attraction was a little hokey, but the gold panning was great. I can understand why folks get the fever. Where can I stake my claim?



We also rode the Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River. Again, I didn't expect much, but we had a 2 for 1 coupon and Dorcas wanted to go. Again I was pleasantly surprised. The Discovery is piloted by the fourth generation of a family of riverboat pilots on the Chena and Tanana Rivers. In 1950 when the highway and the railroad made the riverboat obsolete for hauling goods into the interior, Captain Jim began taking tourists on the Chena River on the Discovery I. Today the cruise is like a floating theme park. As the boat sails from its dock to the Chena's confluence with the Tanawa, the boat stops at different stations along the river for demonstrations of Alaskan life. First, a float plane lands and takes off next to the boat as the importance of the bush pilot to interior Alaska is explained. Then it stops at the kennels of the late Susan Butcher, a champion dog-sled racer and there is a demonstration on dog sledding. The boat then stops at an Athabascan fish camp, where the traditional ways are illustrated by a native. Finally the boat stops at the Chena Indian Village, where everyone is able to get off and see more of the traditional Athabascan ways. There are also sled dogs kenneled there that you can pet and talk to the handlers. As we sailed back to port they fed us smoked salmon dip. Again, it was all pretty cool and much better than expected.